The kinetics of the reduction reaction of plutonium(IV) with <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-dimethylhydroxylamine

Development of the petroleum industry has resulted in increasing production of oil sludge, the disposal of which risks introducing hazardous elements into the environment. In the frames of these studies the presence of the toxic metals arsenic, chromium and zinc in oil sludge and the leachability of those toxins. Samples were obtained from a refinery plant in Sg Udang, Melaka and from the Miri Crude Oil Terminal, Sarawak, both in Malaysia. k ₀-Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis was used to measure mass fractions of elements. The samples were packed and irradiated in a TRIGA Mark II reactor. Mass fraction of arsenic in the oil sludge samples were found to be higher than the EPA pollutant mass fraction limit; mass fractions of chromium and zinc were below of this limit. Samples were also tested for leachability, which was found to be contributed to by controlled diffusion. Slow leachability of arsenic was found to be higher than the EPA limit in these oil sludge samples, influenced by such factors as redox condition. It was found however, that the most leachable of these elements in all samples from both sites was zinc, followed by arsenic and chromium, indicating that zinc may present a more serious threat of environmental contamination than the other two.     

Epitope prediction based on random peptide library screening: benchmark dataset and prediction tools evaluation

Epitope prediction based on random peptide library screening has become a focus as a promising method in immunoinformatics research. Some novel software and web-based servers have been proposed in recent years and have succeeded in given test cases. However, since the number of available mimotopes with the relevant structure of template-target complex is limited, a systematic evaluation of these methods is still absent. In this study, a new benchmark dataset was defined. Using this benchmark dataset and a representative dataset, five examples of the most popular epitope prediction software products which are based on random peptide library screening have been evaluated. Using the benchmark dataset, in no method did performance exceed a 0.42 precision and 0.37 sensitivity, and the MCC scores suggest that the epitope prediction results of these software programs are greater than random prediction about 0.09-0.13; while using the representative dataset, most of the values of these performance measures are slightly improved, but the overall performance is still not satisfactory. Many test cases in the benchmark dataset cannot be applied to these pieces of software due to software limitations. Moreover chances are that these software products are overfitted to the small dataset and will fail in other cases. Therefore finding the correlation between mimotopes and genuine epitope residues is still far from resolved and much larger dataset for mimotope-based epitope prediction is desirable.     

大规模光电混合神经网络中的可编程拓扑重构

提出了一种在大规模光电混合神经网络系统实现可编程拓扑重构的有效方法，文中介绍了这种方法的原理，运用技术以及采用这种方法在已有的ＮＰ１０２４光学／数字神经网络处理器中运行单层反馈型和多层前馈型等不同网络拓扑结构的实验结果。     

二维光学神经网络自由空间互连结构设计

本文分析了以透镜阵列元件建立空间互连通道的光学神经网络中神经元数的理论极限.为了提高网络中的神经元数,我们提出了一种并行结构设计,该结构克服了小透镜成象中的离轴象散的影响,提高了系统的光能利用效率,同时降低了系统中的对位精度误差,提高了互连运算精度.     

Challenges in protein folding simulations: Timescale, representation, and analysis

Experimental studies of protein folding processes are frequently hampered by the fact that only low resolution structural data can be obtained with sufficient temporal resolution. Molecular dynamics simulations offer a complementary approach, providing extremely high resolution spatial and temporal data on folding processes. The effectiveness of such simulations is currently hampered by continuing questions regarding the ability of molecular dynamics force fields to reproduce the true potential energy surfaces of proteins, and ongoing difficulties with obtaining sufficient sampling to meaningfully comment on folding mechanisms. We review recent progress in the simulation of three common model systems for protein folding, and discuss how recent advances in technology and theory are allowing protein folding simulations to address their current shortcomings.     

Complexity analysis of spatial–temporal precipitation system by PCA and SDLE

In this paper, an ensemble technique combining the principal component analysis (PCA) with scale-dependent Lyapunov exponent (SDLE) is used to characterize complexity of precipitation dynamical system. The spatial–temporal precipitation data is decomposed by employing PCA method and then the SDLE for the first few principal components (PCs) time series are computed. The first few PCs time series are found to exhibit the different scaling laws on different time scales. The study illustrate that the spatial–temporal precipitation data is chaotic and the precipitation system is truly multiscaled and complex.     

Recent advances in the application of nanomaterials in enzymatic glucose sensors

Due to the critical role of glucose level in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes, as well as the increasing number of diabetics, there is an overwhelming demand for developing glucose sensors. It is well acknowledged that these sensors, especially those based on glucose oxidase, have played an important role in blood glucose detection. Inspired by the attractive properties, nanomaterials, especially nanostructured carbon and metal/metal oxides, have been extensively explored to develop enzymatic glucose sensors with high sensitivity, fast response time, and satisfied stability. In this review, a brief history of glucose biosensors is firstly presented. Furthermore, we discuss the currently available fabrication possesses in the field of enzymatic glucose biosensors based on nanomaterials, focusing on the carbon-based, metal-based, and metal oxides-based nanocomposites. What is more, we discuss the challenges and attempt to give an outlook on the possible further developments.     

Spin-Free理论与Woodward-Hoffmann规则——丁二烯体系电环合反应的研究

用Spin-Free理论,对丁二烯体系电环合反应进行了研究,得到了基态和各激发态的位能面,解释了加热和加光反应机理和选择定则,对其中的单态和三态光化反应作了初步探讨并求出了有关的活化能。     

The characteristic of sound propagation in deep water and underwater source localization in the direct zone

The multiple-path sound propagation in deep water is conducive to source localization of an underwater target.The transmission losses(TLs) and broadband pulse multiple-path propagation characteristics from a deep receiver is analyzed by using the experimental data from deep water area in the South China Sea(SCS).The results indicate that the width of the direct zone near the bottom of 4300 m water depth is about 30 km.The TLs in the direct zone near the bottom are much less than those in the shadow zone.It is meaningful for underwater sound source detection.Moreover,the time delay between the direct path and the bottomsurface-reflected path for a receiver near the bottom decreases monotonically with the source range.According to the linear relationship between the time delay of multipath and source range,a source localization method is presented to estimate the range of underwater target.The experimental results show that the estimated ranges are consistent with the global position system(GPS) measurements,and the mean square error of the estimation results is less than 0.28 km.